Santiago Botero
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Santiago Botero (born October 27, 1972 in Medellín, Colombia) is a Columbian professional road bicycle racer. He has been a pro since 1996, during which time he has raced in three editions of the Tour de France and four editions of Vuelta a España (the Tour of Spain). He has been, for the greater part of his career, a member of the Kelme team, but in 2003 joined T-Mobile Team (then named Team Telekom). His often brilliant performance as part of the Kelme team turned lacklustre in Team Telekom, with the team management blaming his lack of discipline in training. In October 2004 he joined Phonak Hearing Systems, together with Fabian Cancellara from Fassa Bartolo, and Victor Hugo Peña and Floyd Landis from Discovery Channel-Berry Floor. He currently lives between Colombia and Madrid, Spain with his wife.
He was the World Champion in individual time trial in 2002. His career highlights include a stage win in Ruta del Sol in 1999, a stage win in the Paris-Nice in 1999, a stage win in the 2000 Tour de France, a polka dot jersey as "King of the Mountains" in the 2000 Tour de France, two stage wins in the Vuelta 2001, third place in the World Championships in the individual time trial in 2001, and two stage wins and fourth place overall in the 2002 Tour de France. Other victories include a stage win in the Clasica Bogota in 1997, a prologue win in the Vuelta a Chile in 1997, a stage win in GP Mitsubishi in 1998, After joining T-mobile his prestations in the Tour diminished sharply.
In May 1, 2005 he won the Tour de Romandie in Switzerland, 33 seconds ahead of rising Italian star and favorite for the Giro d'Italia Damiano Cunego. Romandie is often used as a preparation race for the Giro d'Italia.fr:Santiago Botero Echeverry nl:Santiago Botero